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At earlier meetings, the GPKT Women’s Working
Group had agreed that there was a real need for advocacy training
for the Group in order to successfully take forward activities that
would help meet their objectives of working together to tackle the
continuing problems of discrimination, exclusion of women from
decision-making and feminisation of poverty in the microregion.
Responses to address these problems included advocacy activities
that the Group had identified, such as lobbying of local government,
using the media to promote problems and solutions, and campainging
for social change and resources. The Group had successfully
implemented a 'Petition for Peace' activity earlier in the year, and
the training was undertaken with the aim of building on the
experience gained from this activity and supporting their engagement
on more complex advocacy and lobbying activities in a systematic
way.
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EWI joined forces with the Kosovo branch of the National Democratic
Institute (NDI) for implementation of the training. NDI works in the
Balkans to strengthen and enhance the work of parliaments, political
parties, civic groups and NGOs, and has substantial experience of
training and activity in the field of grass-roots advocacy (including
local intiatives, such as the Gjilan/Gnjilane-based 'Advo-net').
Three trainers from NDI and its partners conducted the two-day training
in Gjilan/Gnjilane on the 21 and 22 May 2005. Fifteen women from the
GPKT Women’s Working Group attended the training, including two
municipal staff working closely with CRS (Catholic Relief Services) on a
CRS-supported Kumanovo-Gjilan/Gnjilane cross-border project as part of
reciprocal cooperation between EWI and CRS on their respective
activities. Conducted in Albanian and Serbian, the training greatly
benefited from the generous loan of simultaneous translation equipment
from Gjilan/Gnjilane municipality.
The training programme Citizen-based Advocacy Techniques was
designed to provide participants with skills and knowledge in the
following areas:
i. understanding the concept of advocacy;
ii. gaining skills in building advocacy campaigns based on the
identified issues;
iii. knowledge of how and when to utilise the media in advocacy
campaigns;
iv. building coalitions as an advocacy technique;
v. understanding the purpose of meetings with decision makers and
strategies for successful meetings.
Using a combination of presentations and interactive methods, the
training also facilitated participants' group work on practical
exercises in two key areas previously identified by the Working Group:
media debate to promote women's decision-making roles, and the lack of
resources for children with special needs in Presevo.
Participants were all awarded certificates at the end of the training,
when they commented that the training had developed their skills a great
deal and that they now felt more confident in taking forward advocacy
activities. Implementation of the action plans developed by groups'
practical exercises is now being taken forward, with a televised debate
on women in politics and a Presevo community meeting on the special
needs issue planned in June.
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